Broken Pendulum
by siyentista
Summary: Soifon finds herself in a strange situation, with the power to change the course of history, and only a few people she can count on.
1. Is that you, Kyouka Suigetsu?

Author's notes:

This is a multi-chapter fic, but updates will be erratic and probably infrequent. The main characters will be Yoruichi and Soifon, although it remains to be seen what kind of relationship will develop between them.

Disclaimer:

If Bleach was mine, Tatsuki would have powers too. (She's had the most contact with Ichigo. Wouldn't that make sense?)

**Broken Pendulum**

by siyentista

Chapter 1: Is that you, Kyouka Suigetsu?

As Soifon slowly regained consciousness, she realized in alarm that she couldn't feel her left arm. There was nothing wrong with the fact that she couldn't feel her arm, per se. After all, she had fought Barragan and ordered her lieutenant to chop it off, lest the rest of her wither and die. It had been an alarming realization then that she had to trade the limb for her life, but it wasn't alarming to think about it now. No, there was nothing wrong with the fact that she couldn't feel her arm. What was wrong was the fact that she could wiggle it despite not feeling it.

Soifon didn't know what was going on. In addition to apparently having a left arm, she couldn't feel the excruciating pain from the large gash Aizen had given her in her last battle, if it could be called that. And actually, that was the very last thing she remembered.

Logically, Soifon knew that it wasn't impossible for her to be in her current condition: the Inoue girl could have rejected her injuries, Unohana and her Division could have healed her wounds, and the former Kido Corps officers could possibly even have a hand in this. But if she had just finished being treated, wouldn't it make more sense for her to be lying down, recuperating, instead of sitting in a chair?

It was a very small detail, but the fact that she was sitting made Soifon think of so many other nasty explanations for why she was in her current state, some of which included a sadistic Aizen trying to use her for some despicable plan, or Mayuri hiding her away in secret for some kind of experiment. Soifon wasn't sure which option would be more terrifying.

It might have been a case of Onmitsukidou-induced paranoia, but she thought it prudent to gather information before she started moving about, alerting people to her wakefulness. She listened carefully for any indications of where she was and who had taken her there, but her ears met with absolute silence. At the very least, she seemed to be alone at the moment. Discreetly, she tried moving the three limbs that she knew were intact before she passed out, and concluded that they were still there and were unrestrained. Finally, she cautiously peeked through half-lidded eyes, only to widen them in disbelief when she discovered her completely safe and completely unexpected whereabouts.

Soifon raised her head from the desk, freeing her pinned arm, and cringing when the blood urgently rushed to her left arm, causing a tingling, relieving, but also slightly weird sensation—weird, especially if compared to the feeling of not having the said arm. When the sensation dulled, she closed her eyes and cradled her face with both hands, trying to make sense of everything.

She had an arm. She was healed. She was sitting at a desk—not hers— in her office in the Second Division.

Nope, couldn't make sense of it _at all_.

Before she even had a chance to reconsider the facts and conjure a far-fetched explanation which she was sure was going to turn out to be true—because that's how it is in Soul Society—the shoji door slid open.

"Yo, Soifon."

"Y-Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon yelped, completely taken aback by the woman's arrival.

"Hm? Don't look so surprised that I'm here. It makes me look like I hate paperwork," the caramel-skinned woman said flatly.

"But… but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I do hate paperwork. But if it has to be done, it has to be done… at some point. That's all there is to it," Yoruichi condeded. "Besides, I was getting sick of sitting around on the commander's throne and I figured some of those papers actually need _my_ signature."

"Huh?" Soifon answered dumbly.

"You know, you're looking a little pale." Yoruichi noted, not knowing that the blood had left Soifon's face due to shock. "You're spending too much time doing the division paperwork indoors. Why don't you go outside and have fun while I finish up in here."

"But I-"

"Come on, no buts, out you go," Yoruichi ordered, pulling the smaller woman up and quickly pushing her out the door before shutting it.

_But I was going to ask what the heck is going on!_

Soifon was in a state of such absolute confusion that she started walking aimlessly around the Seireitei with her face scrunched up. She was more distressed now than when she had first realized she had her left arm back—totally understandable considering that she had woken up in her office right after facing Aizen. But more than that, Yoruichi had entered her office knowing that recovering Chinese woman was there, and _wearing the Second Division haori_!

Her initial interpretation of the situation was that she must have been out of commission for a while. Perhaps Yoruichi was donning the Second Division's haori because she had taken back the reigns in her absence. And she supposed Yoruichi might have cropped her hair same as before in nostalgia. That made sense. But if she was in a long coma of some sort, why didn't she wake up in the Fourth Division? Why in the Spirit King's name would she wake up sitting in her office, at a desk that had no business being there, no less?

Yoruichi had acted like it was she who had been shirking her duties, and Soifon who had been picking up the slack—matters she had not recollection of. Then it maybe it was short term amnesia? That happened once before when she was training with Jakuho Raikoben and she hit her head so hard from the recoil. And although she thought she would find it hard to give up her hard-earned titles, she could also imagine herself giving them back to Yoruichi out of some sense of obligation.

Soifon suddenly started jumping, hopping on each foot and wiggling her torso while waving her arms. She looked ridiculous, but all she could care about was the conclusion she had drawn from the impromptu dance: she was definitely completely healed like she suspected, and her body was definitely in too good a condition to have been in a prolonged inactivity.

_Amnesia it is._

With a more thorough investigation of her body, Soifon realized in dismay that her already small breasts were even smaller, her braids were gone and the rest of her hair was slightly longer. How hadn't she noticed that before?!

"Is something the matter, Soifon-san?"

Soifon quickly retracted her hands, one from cupping her left breast and the other from clutching the hair at the back of her head. She burned red from the thought of what she probably looked like she was doing just now.

"Mind your own business!" she snapped at Urahara Kisuke. Really, of all the people who could have seen her that way!

"My, my, something seems to be bothering you today," Kisuke said calmly, still wearing the amused and confused expression he wore when he first spotted the overly proper Soifon hopping around childishly, and then… doing _that_.

Only then did Soifon realize that the man was also wearing his old Twelfth Division haori, his detestable bucket hat nowhere in sight. Had he taken back his position too? What happened to Kurotsuchi?

Just then, the snarky man emerged from an alleyway, wearing a lab coat and missing some of the more disturbing implements he had built into his head. "There you are, you unpleasant man," he said, whisking away the blonde-haired man while whispering in his ear about some dastardly experiment they had going, no doubt. Kisuke apologetically waved goodbye to Soifon before allowing himself to be dragged off by the insistent clown-faced man. Soifon just looked on in confusion.

_No, seriously, __**what**__ is going on?!_

She had never known Kurotsuchi to like Urahara—and she could fully understand why for she was of like mind in the matter—so why would he hand back the captaincy and interact with him almost tolerantly?

Soifon almost had a heart attack when she saw a bespectacled Aizen walking smilingly behind a long-haired Shinji. But when the frantic pace of her heart beat slowed down, she narrowed her eyes as she muttered her realization, "Kyouka Suigetsu. To think that that zanpakutou could be so powerful as to recreate the entire Seireitei of the past. Well, Aizen, you made the mistake of showing me your face. You've just helped me figure out that this is all an illusion."


	2. Broken Pendulum

Chapter 2: Broken Pendulum

Decades after Yoruichi had stopped teaching her most talented subordinate and up until her feline form returned to the Seireitei, Soifon had come to be known as the fastest shinigami in Soul Society. She had trained day and night, night and day, fostering the inborn talent to master the skill her captain was known for. There were days when she pushed herself far beyond her expected limits, bringing her legs to the brink of destruction, but the harsh training had paid off. Not only was she fast but her muscles had become so used to the motions that she could execute lightning-fast shunpo out of instinct. At the moment, her calf muscles were twitching, responding to her murderous thoughts, raw instinct driving them into the preparatory stages of a particularly swift step that would bring her within blade's reach of the traitor.

She wanted so much to stick Suzumebachi into Aizen's fragile neck, but her legs and her blade were stilled by the memory of a shinigami's zanpakutou buried in another one's belly, Hinamori's betrayed eyes turning dull, Hitsugaya's aghast expression crumpling into one of pure rage and malice. She could assassinate Aizen only to find the dying form of a comrade. Worse, she could attack him only to realize that she had killed the woman she had sworn to serve and protect.

_Yoruichi-sama._

It took some effort before the captain successfully calmed her eager muscles. Even then, the only reason the urge didn't return was because the manipulative monster had disappeared from sight, walking right through the imposing doors of the Twelfth Division. The Chinese woman slumped her shoulders, at a loss for what was going on and what to do next. It was a feeling she was quickly becoming very familiar with since waking up this morning.

She may have deduced that she was the victim of Aizen's deception, but what was she to do with such knowledge? Here in a world where her senses were completely subjugated by Aizen's zanpakutou, she was utterly vulnerable to the maniac's manipulations. How was she to know if her plans weren't actually meant to bring his to fruition?

The petite woman wanted to tear her hair out, somehow re-plant them, and tear them out again.

Truthfully, she couldn't think of what Aizen was trying to achieve by fooling her into thinking she was in the past, especially after he had already revealed that first deception with Hinamori. What, did he think that she hadn't learned her lesson? That she would keep attacking whoever looked like Aizen at the moment, hoping that she would get him at some point, in the meantime hurting whoever he wanted her to?

The most troubling piece of the puzzle was that an illusion of this scale would no doubt be taxing on the reiatsu. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if this required bankai. What goal was so important that he would use all that energy for such an elaborate set-up? What should she do now?

Soifon clenched her eyelids shut in frustration. _Questions, all questions, and not a single answer._

Well, maybe one answer. She was a woman of action, but now seemed to be more a time of inaction. Until she knew what Aizen was trying to pull or unless she found herself in a dire situation, she would have to play along and pretend that she had been fooled.

Soifon furtively glanced around and back the way she came and realized that prior to seeing Kyouka-Suigetsu-Urahara's infuriating face, she had been buried too deep in thought to take in the details of the illusion. Such inattention to her surroundings was deplorable and simply wouldn't do to discover Aizen's plans. Thankfully, Kyouka-Suigetsu-Yoruichi had given her the day off. She had the perfect opportunity to re-explore her surroundings of at least a century ago without blowing her cover.

***

The usually cream-colored walls of the barracks were glowing orange when Soifon returned to the Second Division. The building was on the west end of the grounds, at least half a mile away from the next buildings that were already part of the Third Division; and day after day, the sinking sun painted it in the same colors that it did the sky.

Soifon had a throbbing headache from wandering round the Seireitei, gathering information and unsuccessfully trying to piece them together. For all her efforts, her only accomplishment was determining that the illusion was a faithful replica, including obscure details she could not have recalled on her own but had remembered when faced with the visual prompts. She wanted nothing more than to just lie down to banish the pain, even as she thought that everything—the headache, her bed, and her desire to sleep—might all be part of the illusion. _What a mind-fuck_, she concluded irritatedly.

Of course, with her current discovery, lying down just had to wait.

When Soifon entered her quarters in the barracks, she noticed a piece of paper, conspicuously placed on her dresser, right at the center of the void uncovered by various personal items. She wasn't in the habit of cluttering that space with paperwork, so the oddness of the situation had her hoping that it was a note of some sort, something akin to a ransom letter after a kidnapping—an explanation of the situation and a detailing of demands.

_There's only one way to find out. _

Eyes roaming over the first line of ink marks, Soifon's breath caught. By the time she got to the fourth line, her eyes had bugged out and her mind had completely trailed off. She gaped at the piece of paper in horror, even as it fell from her shaking hands.

It was poetry.

Bad poetry.

Interestingly, the horror was not caused by how bad the poetry was, although the sentiments were shockingly juvenile and the words painfully awkward. No, the horror was caused by the fact that everything was as it should be at this particular point in time—embarrassing forays into literature and all. Normally, that would be considered a good thing. However, the Commander of the Onmitsukidou remembered how Aizen explained that Kyouka Suigetsu had the power to make his enemies see what he wants them to see. If that was the case, then the unspoken given was that Kyouka Suigetsu cannot show you things that Aizen cannot conjure up…

Like things he had no way of knowing…

Like how cold Soifon used to be (and still might be) a cheesy sap…

Like how militia-bred Soifon used to secretly write poetry—not just any poetry, but bad poetry…

No one else in the world knew that, not even Yoruichi, and yet there she stood, eying the bad poetry as if it might come to life and gobble her.

Her eyebrows pinched together in distress. _This is not the work of Kyouka Suigetsu!_

Soifon felt like crying. She had been so convinced that everything she was seeing was an illusion, and while that was bad news, she at least had some grasp of her current situation. Now, she had been deprived of even that small comfort.

_What __**is**__ this? Where am I? __**What**__ is going on?!_

Thinking back to the little pieces of information she had gathered earlier, she determined that her earlier conclusion was probably close to the truth: she was in some approximation of the past. But if it wasn't an illusion, what was it? Reality? Time travel? She would have thought it impossible if not for the fact that she had fought an arrancar that controlled aging, essentially accelerating the passage of time. He was dead, but who knew if anyone else had a similar, more complete control of time?

Soifon pressed the heel of one palm against her forehead. The throbbing was becoming unbearable.

The only good thing about her new realization would have been the fact that she didn't have to keep thinking about what Aizen had in mind. But the one question that had occupied her mind the whole day had been replaced by multiple others: How had she gotten here? Was it a random selection, being placed in this particular point in time, or was there a specific reason? Who had the power to pull off something like this, and why would he or she send someone back? Why send _her_ back?

The more she thought about it, the less hopeful she was that she would ever find out. If the being was powerful enough to send her that far back in time, most likely, the being could ensure that their motives and methods were not discovered unless they wanted her to. The most that she could do was to cry out to the heavens—where someone of that omnipotence was likely to reside—and patiently wait for a lightning bolt or something of that nature as a response.

_No, thank you. I've already cried out, 'Why?' to the heavens once, and the goddess didn't even deign to answer me. _

No matter. If she was placed before the most critical events in her and the Seireitei's existence with her memories of the future intact, then she had the power to change the course of history, regardless of what the time manipulator wanted. That thought brought a smile to her face despite the pain building behind her skull. To successfully pull it off, she needed to determine the key events that lead to the Winter War and plan ways to manipulate them. But before that, she needed to gather information that would fill in the gaps in her memory.

_Oh, how sweet it is to have been trained for Onmitsukidou. _A menacing gleam shown in Soifon's eyes as she rubbed her palms together.

Her stomach growled and she realized that she couldn't remember when she last ate… couldn't remember anything else that happened to past Soifon right before she got to this timeline, either, but…

_But first, dinner._

* * *

Author's notes: Now wasn't that an annoying chapter? In the next chapters, you can expect the headache inducing situation analyses to get toned down, but I can't promise that I'll stop them completely. After all, Soifon is still figuring things out.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1. I'm telling you, Tatsuki MUST have powers!


	3. Rank and File

Author's notes: I want to thank Soldier for the poetry idea in the last chapter. (Sorry for the late acknowledgement.)

It's a quick update this time, but I hope no one gets used to it because I'm really not sure when the next one will be.

Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, Yoruichi would be at the real Karakura, training Tatsuki and her little gang of Ichigo-ized humans.

Chapter 3: Rank and file

The realization that she was indeed in the past made Soifon look at everything with a sort of wonder and nostalgia. There were the old training grounds, before the new dojo was built on top of it. Here was the tiny koi pond she used to meditate by before they turned the area into a large recreational park, too noisy for her own liking. Just for a moment, the raven-haired shinigami stood by the sakura tree whose branches hung over the pond, dusting it with pink petals. She must have looked odd, slowly running her fingers along the rough bark like that, but the good thing about not being captain anymore was the fact that she had her relative anonymity back. The other troops milling around didn't really care if another black-clad figure was gazing at a plant like it was a long lost friend. They only bothered to look her way when she yelped softly but audibly, having pricked her finger on a splinter.

_Tch, that ruined the mood, _Soifon scowled and sucked on the injured finger.

Looking at the men and women who had noticed her tiny accident, Soifon spotted a number of faces she had not seen in decades—faces of the people she had sent to their deaths, either as threats to the Seireitei, or more depressingly, as soldiers under her command. She found herself unable to meet the gazes of the people in the latter category.

Although she wasn't as close to any of them as she was to Yoruichi, she did care about them. It was hard to believe, especially since she seemed so cold and cruel, saying things like, 'Death awaits the weak,' and so on. But she only antagonized her subordinates so that they could become stronger like she did when Yoruichi left. Besides, on particularly bad days when entire squadrons were killed on ill-planned missions, only those words fooled her long enough so she can fall asleep, and that alone made them valuable. With those words firmly in mind, she could wake up the next day in the best condition to make the decisions that would prevent the mishap from happening again. Such was the responsibility of a captain.

Soifon sighed, slightly relieved. _Well, with this time traveling issue and all, maybe I have a little more time before I have to face that again... if I even get to be a captain again. _

That caveat brought the scowl back to her face. Clearly, there were advantages to being just another soldier in the rank and file. But not being a captain for now was one thing. Never reclaiming the deserved rank was another.

Things were definitely going to change; she would make sure of it. Aizen would be stopped. Yoruichi would not leave. There was a very real possibility that she would have to stay in the shadows and forego the titles she had long gotten used to in order to bring about, or as a consequence of, these events. For the fulfillment of those critical goals, she would do it. However, that didn't mean she would like it.

When Soifon arrived at the mess hall, she saw her burly male counterparts hungrily emptying the serving pots and piling the food onto their plates. She quickly made her way to the end of the line, ruefully thinking that it had been a while since she had to cue for anything, let alone other people's leavings. It was just another reminder of what she had lost and most likely would be giving up for good.

Her mind was beginning to drift off to recall reports, to craft plans and—honestly—to brood, when the men started bowing and moving away from the table. The tiny ex-captain peered through the spaces between the large bodies and spotted a slightly tousled crop of purple hair. Yoruichi was grinning in her direction, no longer donning the haori, but instead wearing her ridiculous orange jacket over her Onmitsukidou uniform.

Soifon chuckled softly. Only she could pull off such an outfit. And only she could cheer her up so effortlessly, even unintentionally, from the funk she had descended into from thinking about her old subordinates and her lost captaincy.

_Not to mention she shooed the men off in time to leave me the last piece of fish_, she mused happily.

As they all began eating, the commander sat beside her as she was wont to do whenever she decided to grace her subordinates with her presence at dinner. Having the chance to observe the woman up close made Soifon wonder how much she actually remembered Yoruichi from the time before they were reunited—before she was freed from the burdens of her names and titles only to bear the weight of knowing about Soul Society's true traitors. How much had she twisted the facts so that she could hate the woman and ease the pain of her loss? More importantly, how much had she romanticized her memories of Yoruichi in her times of weakness and loneliness?

_Probably a lot_, she smirked as she watched her captain through the corner of her eyes. Yoruichi was shoveling rice into her mouth at a disconcerting pace, white grains flying and sticking and falling, food picked off of Soifon's plate only to reappear just before it passed through her lips.

Eating habits aside, there were a lot of admirable things about Yoruichi, like her strength, her intelligence, her beauty. But at that moment, Soifon realized that the most admirable thing about her was how much she hadn't changed despite her undeserved fall from grace and how she seemed untouched by bitterness. Yoruichi still smirked the same way, still teased anyone and everyone as much as she possibly could, still laughed as often. Oh yes, and she still shoveled her food into her mouth as if nothing but the meal mattered—as if Aizen wasn't about to end the world and as if it didn't fall on her to do something about it…

Well, not this Yoruichi, but the one from the future, now her past.

Soifon knew she changed tremendously over the century in which Yoruichi was missing. Where there was once a fairly amiable, devoted and _determined_ soldier, there was now a cold, strict and _determined_ captain—some things, of course, never changed. The things that did change, however, were going to make it difficult for her to keep her time origins secret. What would Yoruichi think if her puppy of a protégé had disappeared for good, replaced by this hardened and embittered bitch? Would she even believe her story? She would-

"Soifon? Soifooon…" Yoruichi called in a singsong voice as she waved an ebony hand vigorously just a little more than an inch away from Soifon's nose.

Soifon jerked in her seat, nearly smacking her face into Yoruichi's hand in her surprise.

"Y-Yoruichi-sama!" she cried. It was a good thing that none of future Yoruichi's efforts had erased her deeply ingrained tendency to regard her with respect. Imagine how suspicious the captain would be if the young Fon, the stickler for protocol and propriety, started calling her by her first name and her first name alone.

"You were in a faraway land for a moment there," Yoruichi teased.

_Try 'a time now gone' or 'never to be'_, Soifon mentally corrected. _Huh, that was sort of confusing._

"Sorry, Yoruichi-sama. I was just-"

"Eh, don't worry about it. I just wanted to warn you that if you don't start eating now, you may just find your plate empty and your tummy growling. And we can't have that when we start training later."

_As if she wasn't the one emptying my plate in the first place…_

_Wait, did she just say' training'?_

"Right," Soifon said as she started picking the fish apart with her chopsticks. "What are we doing for training again?" she asked, thinking this was her chance to gauge what skill level she was supposed to have at this point.

"Oh, Soifon, I wish you wouldn't ask me that question over and over again. I know you're excited about achieving your shikai, but if I have to explain one more time what we'll be doing this time-"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Yoruichi-sama," Soifon interrupted since she had received the information she needed. She could vaguely remember what her abilities were like when she was training for shikai. "I just meant to ask when we were training and where."

The dark-skinned woman clicked her tongue in amusement. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you're too young to be so forgetful. We'll meet in my office at 7:30 pm, then we'll go to the forest so we're hidden from prying eyes just in case you do achieve shikai. Don't want everyone to know about your trump card, after all."

Briefly forgetting her cover, Soifon noted the unspoken doubt with the slightest hint of disbelief. "In case I achieve shikai?"

"Oh-ho? Feeling cocky, are we?" Yoruichi raised a finely sculpted brow. "You're talented and I believe in your ability to achieve shikai. But younger shinigami like you don't usually get it on their third try." She ruffled Soifon's now-shoulder length hair affectionately.

The girl blushed a deep red, and instinctively bowed beneath her mistress' hand. Not even traveling a century forward and back cured her of the embarrassing automatic reaction.

_Puppy._

There was a tiny part of Soifon that wondered if it was right to take advantage of her advanced skills and knowledge of the future for such a selfish purpose, and another tiny part that worried about the kind of repercussions these small indulgences would have on the progress of this timeline. But the bigger part—the part that had always looked up to this goddess amongst man—just wanted to impress the woman and make her proud.

_Besides, I very well can't keep Suzumebachi a secret when much of my fighting style depends on Nigeki Kessatsu._

Or so she tried to justify.

_Puppy._

"Oh, I think today's the day, Yoruichi-sama. I really think today's the day I'll finally get it."


	4. Secret Abilities

Chapter 4: Secret Abilities

Yoruichi had said that the slow journey into the forest was part of the training. In fact, it was a test. Soldiers of the Onmitsukidou must learn how to be aware of their surroundings. They must be observant, and they need to be able to memorize every single detail. Her bodyguard's task was to take in her surroundings—smells, sights, sounds—and report everything back to her later. Yoruichi's own eyes seemed to be scanning the century-old trees and moonlight filtering through the canopy as if to perform the same exercise so that she could check Soifon's report against her own observations. But one didn't spend so much time with Yoruichi and not know any better.

_Couldn't you just _say_ that you wanted to take a nice evening stroll?_

The slow journey was a test, alright. The ex-captain knew it well because Omaeda used to administer it _all_ the time. It was a test of patience; and indeed, it was testing _her_ patience.

While they were walking, Yoruichi taking the lead and Soifon trailing a step behind as was typical, the younger of the two kept fidgeting with the cloth of her pants, the action sometimes punctuated by the clenching and unclenching of fists. It was a decently restrained show of impatience and anxiety, possible to miss if you were anyone else, but with a brief glance, the Gundanchou immediately read the mood of her constant companion and subordinate.

"Calm down, Soifon. There's no hurry to achieve shikai today. Your goal is to commune with your zanpakutou so you can understand each other better. The baby steps will eventually get you where you want."

Soifon would have been proud of her thespian skills, acting like a novice trying to achieve shikai, were it not for the fact that she was truly nervous. After she had announced her intention to successfully release her zanpakutou during training, Soifon realized that she hadn't had the opportunity to use Nigeki Kessatsu in this timeline. For all she knew, her abilities might have regressed to how they had been in her adolescence. Her current fear was that Future Suzumebachi hadn't traveled back in time with her, and they needed to get to know each other all over again before she could perform shikai.

_More than that, what if the reset gave me a new zanpakutou; or worse, what if Suzumebachi was left behind with nothing else to replace her? Surely a new shikai is better than none at-_

"Alright, we'll stop here," Yoruichi interrupted her thoughts as she leaned against a tree.

Drawing a calming breath, Soifon pretended to sweep the clearing with her gaze though she knew it very well, coincidentally having spent much of her bankai training in the same place.

"Shall I begin meditation, Yoruichi-sama?" the lower noble forced herself to ask as meekly and as respectfully as she could. Not that she would ever consider regarding the Shihouin princess with anything but humility and respect, but taking it to the extreme was an impulse she believed she had long left behind.

"Yeah, just settle down somewhere and perform the exercise like I told you back in the office. I'll be right here, keeping an eye on you," Yoruichi ordered casually, appearing to shoo her student off. "Oh, and if you come out of it and I'm not right here, I might be giving the area another look-around. You know, so I can check your observations later."

_Sigh. I really wish she would just say she's going for a stroll._

"Yes, Yoruichi-sama," Soifon responded obediently while lowering herself to sit cross-legged at the center of the clearing. She closed her eyes, making sure to spend at least ten minutes of obvious distractedness for the benefit of her audience before she truly attempted to enter her mindscape.

Soifon's mindscape was a broad green valley bounded on two sides by craggy cliffs and slopes. The valley itself was littered with randomly spaced vertical poles of different heights and girths, each handsomely molded, gilded and painted in her stinger's shiny gold and black stripes. The sun lay low on the horizon, the field, the rocks and the elaborate training posts half awash in sunlight and half swathed in shadow. Chiaroscuro was the term that always came to mind when she visited the non-corporeal space, and it was fitting because the woman's thoughts and emotions tended to come in extreme pairs, always battling each other but also complementing each other. The woman herself was a living paradox, a celebrity in the limelight, complete with adoring fans due to her leadership in the Gotei Thirteen, but also a dark personality shrouded in the shadowy dealings of the Onmitsukidou.

"Suzumebachi?" Soifon called out craning her neck left and right as if she had just entered the doorway to someone's house.

"So you've come," the pint-sized human-hornet chimera responded as she materialized and flew over to face her wielder.

"Then you remember me?" the girl queried expectantly.

"If I didn't, I think I would be quite disturbed that my wielder knew my name before we had even met," the spirit answered, slightly amused by the question.

"Yes, well, it's good that you did then."

The tiny creature sighed, landing on top of a training pole. "Soifon, as much as you dislike some of my powers, I _am_ a part of your soul. If your soul was sent back in time, then I get sent back as well."

"You know all about that?" Soifon's eyes brightened hopefully.

Suzumebachi sighed again, "I only know as much as you do, I'm afraid. Even I can't fathom the kind of power that not only plays with time, but breaks it and remakes it according to the actions of one person."

"I know what you mean. How all this is even possible keeps bothering me. Also, it's a little overwhelming to know that that one person is me."

Suzumebachi laughed—a buzzing, almost condescending sound. "Take a look around your mindscape. I think that might be an understatement."

In its typical state, the valley was in perpetual dawn or sunset—it was impossible to distinguish since the sun didn't move with the passing of the days, but instead shifted to reflect Soifon's mood. Now that she paid more attention to her mindscape, she realized that the sun was significantly lower than usual and as a result, the shadows were much longer. In the shadows, she noticed that a number of training posts had actually broken and fallen on the ground.

"Sorry, but I think it might stay like this for a little while" the shinigami said, sounding marginally abashed by her inability to calm her mind. Suzumebachi gave a tiny shrug to indicate her understanding.

"So I take it my shikai still works?" Soifon eyed the chimera curiously.

"As well as it always has. Why don't you try it?"

"If I try it here, won't that also reflect out there? I wanted to show Yoruichi-sama-"

Suzumebachi's expression darkened at the name. "She's not out there at the moment."

There was an awkward pause before Soifon nodded and unsheathed her zanpakutou from her side, something she hadn't done since she became a captain and started carrying the sheath across her back. "Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi!" she called out as she held the sword across her chest, parallel to the ground. The ornate gold and black metal began to adorn her right forearm, then linked itself to the deadly stinger that had formed on her finger. Once again, the petite woman nodded, this time in satisfaction.

"Well, there really isn't anything I can sting to death here except for you, so this will have to do for now," Soifon noted thoughtfully.

"As if you could," the hornet snorted derisively.

For a minute or two, the pair was quiet while Soifon inspected her weapon intently. The smaller of the two broke the silence with a fake cough. "I notice you didn't ask about Jakuho Raikoben."

"_Does_ it still work?" Soifon suddenly looked up, a little worried that she had lost a trump card, even an abominable one.

"Soifon, Soifon…" Suzumebachi scolded, placing her hands on her hips and tapping the air with her toes.

"Is that any way to think of your bankai? As an afterthought?"

"You know why I think that way," the young woman mumbled softly as she looked away.

"Yes, of course, it goes against all your sensibilities as an assassin," the spirit stated, clearly offended. "And have you ever thought of why you bankai is like that? Ever considered the possibility that it's simply the reflection of what is in your heart?"

"How can it be a reflection of my heart? I'm an assassin!" Soifon argued stubbornly.

"One that wanted to surpass her old captain," the tiny creature amended. "You didn't achieve bankai so you can kill enemies without them knowing; you wanted to _make a show_ of your power."

"So because of my own immaturity when I achieved bankai, I'm stuck with that flashy technique that endangers me almost as much as the enemy, and can only be used once in three days," the ex-captain summarized, disgusted at herself as much as she was at the technique itself. She cradled her face in her hands.

Floating above her, Suzumebachi cracked a knowing smile. "Tell me, Soifon, haven't you ever wondered why you can only fire Jakuho Raikoben once in three days?"

"Because I don't have enough reiatsu?" Soifon guessed with raised eyebrows.

"No, no, no," the spirit shook her head. "You're a captain; you've got plenty of reiatsu."

Soifon decided not to correct her current title. "But I run out of reiatsu each time I use it."

"Because you overload the technique. You don't really need to put in that much every time," Suzumebachi explained.

"But if I don't put in that much reiatsu, I don't get the big explosion."

"I thought you said you were an assassin. Why would you want a huge explosion?" the giant bug flew in front of her face and smirked.

Soifon's eyebrow twitched. "Is there a point to this conversation?"

"A very good one that I would have gotten to eventually," Suzumebachi assured her. "But since you're impatient and temperamental as always, I'll cut to the chase. The point is you're not stuck with 'a flashy technique that endangers you almost as much as the enemy, and can only be used once in three days'. Your current Jakuho Raikoben's technique is incomplete and that is the only reason it is so seriously flawed."

The young woman dropped her jaw and jabbed an accusatory finger—stinger still attached— at her zanpakutou's spirit. "When I learned that technique, you said I had achieved all that I was capable of!"

"At the time," the spirit agreed. "That was all your heart would allow: a grand demolition fed by a wasteful flare of reiatsu and emotion."

Insulted by the description, the Chinese woman threw the hornet a dirty look. "And now?"

"I've been paying attention to your thoughts; you've accepted the need to stay in the shadows. Now, you really think like an assassin so I'll give you a bankai worthy of an assassin. I also think that you have slightly better control of your emotions."

"Slightly," Soifon repeated flatly. "I see."

"No, you don't. Not yet," Suzumebachi interjected obnoxiously. "Find me a good training spot and let me materialize. That's when you'll really see," she held her left index finger in front of her for emphasis. When she finished speaking, she suddenly lifted her head. "It seems _that woman_ is coming back," she ground out venomously.

"How long have I been in here?" the sword wielder wondered aloud, ignoring the spirit's tone while she dispelled her shikai.

"Not too long, but you should probably go. Before you _do_ leave, let me warn you," the sword spirit pinned her with a stern glare. "I won't let you use your shikai to impress that woman."

"This one hasn't done anything but teach me," the young woman persisted, but Suzumebachi refused to have any of it.

"I'm telling you, that woman is _bad_ news."

"But-" Soifon found herself opening her eyes to the sight of Yoruichi once again waving her hand too close to her face.

_I can't believe she kicked me out!_

"You're back," Yoruichi straightened out and stepped back.

"Yes," Soifon answered softly.

"So, did my student achieve shikai like she claimed she would?" Yoruichi smiled excitedly, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

_I won't let you use your shikai to impress that woman._

"Umm… not really," Soifon stared at the ground dejectedly.

Yoruichi, on the other hand, frowned confusedly. The very reason she came back early from her stroll was because she felt Soifon's reiatsu rise to the level of shikai.

She shook her head, filing away whatever she sensed for future consideration. "Well then, why don't we practice some shunpo so the night isn't a complete waste?"

Soifon opened her mouth to answer, but before she could utter a word, Yoruichi flicked her forehead forcefully and set off with a shout that faded out so quickly that the girl almost failed to make it out.

"Tag, you're it!"

And just like that, Soifon's gaping mouth slowly curled into a smile.

_At least no one's stopping me from impressing her with shunpo._

With that, Soifon set off at a pace that was just a notch higher than the thought she should have at that point in time.

Yoruichi wasn't known as the Goddess of Flash for nothing. She could race with the wind and could travel miles in the blink of an eye. She was the fastest shinigami to ever set foot into the Seireitei and, proud as she was, she often took pleasure in emphasizing how slow everyone else seemed to her. This is why, after a few minutes of much retarded flash stepping, when Soifon began to catch up, the Goddess of Flash yelled over her shoulder with a jovial laugh, "What's the matter, Soifon? Did _meditating_ tire you out? You're even slower than usual!"

Since there was no one that could match Yoruichi's speed—not any of the other captains or even the Soutaichou—the typical response to her taunting was a grunt of exertion as the target of her taunts tried and failed to keep up with her. Of course, the current situation was anything but typical. After all, the person she was taunting wasn't just from the future; she was Yoruichi's protégé, her successor in the Second Division and the Onmitsukidou, and most importantly, a very, very fast shinigami whose shunpo came second only to the Goddess of Flash, herself. Not to mention that the said shinigami was simply holding back and tended to take many things, including taunts, a tad too seriously.

_I thought this was already a notch above the speed I had around this time. My estimate must have been off…_

Thus, in a very atypical response to Yoruichi's taunting, Soifon started matching her, step for step in their little game of tag. The Gundanchou felt quite perturbed, to say the least. True, she was holding back a lot, but she also meant to go significantly faster than the girl to tease her, impress upon her the need for further training and to maybe show a little bit of why she was dubbed the Shunshin.

Recalling the earlier jolt in reiatsu in light of the girl's unexpected jump in speed, Yoruichi began to suspect that Soifon really did achieve shikai and that for some reason, her bodyguard had been keeping her abilities from her. 'I knew she had potential, but how could I have not seen that she was already this strong?' she mentally kicked herself.

'Hmm, this… changes things,' the captain decided.

* * *

Author's notes:

Yes, Suzumebachi is the same here as she is in the Zanpakutou Arc even if I dislike that little bug, which is why I decided not to describe her in detail the same way I don't dwell on characters' appearances. I hope the mindscape's description was detailed enough though.

The chapter is longer than usual because it felt odd splitting this somewhere in between. I found it difficult to write for some reason. Let me know if it shows, because if it does, I'll have to give it another look.

Disclaimer:

Bleach isn't mine. If it was, Suzumebachi wouldn't look the way she does.


	5. Things Change

Chapter 5: Things Change

The part of the sword that was closest to the hilt shone brilliantly in the moonlight while the rest of it glowed with a crimson sheen dripping sluggishly down to the sharp tip, then to the earth beneath it. Delicate, pale fingers ran over the coppery liquid with a white piece of cloth, frayed at the edges, obviously torn from somewhere. Below, a boy wearing the standard academy uniform lay supine, desperately gasping in pain, the front of his white robe looking too clean despite the torn hem and the three inch cut in the fabric near his chest, the back sopping and red around the three-inch hole that matched the one in front.

"The Soushireikan's information doesn't seem to be accurate this time, does it?" a tall figure commented as the wind blew through the surrounding bushes with an eerie howl, made eerier by the victim's accompanying gasps.

"Yep, this one ain't even worth bloodying my blade for," the shorter figure answered indifferently, stuffing the soiled white cloth into the boy's mouth to silence him.

"Then I think it might be time to have another meeting. After all, we need to find you a stronger playmate if my plans are to succeed," the tall figure tore his eyes away from the body disdainfully as the boy drew his very last breath. The moonlight glanced off the man's glasses ominously, "Don't you agree, Gin?"

"O'course, Aizen-sama," the shorter figure answered automatically, before falling back into his perpetual menacing grin.

* * *

"Bankai!"

A bright column of lightning erupted violently from where Soifon stood on the ground, surrounded by swirls of yellow energy, and she had to wonder if she hadn't made a huge mistake, picking an enclosed area for calling upon her second release. Well, if she had, it was too late to rectify the oversight now. The column shrunk and died down with a few more fizzles, the energy around her, evaporating into wisps then nothingness. Gold had covered the right side of her body, a shield and a slit mask protecting her torso and face, a thick, sleek tube with six sinister spikes extending from her shoulder well beyond the reach of her arm.

"Jakuho Raikoben," she whispered placidly, her eyes narrowed dangerously. That appearance of calm confidence always did scare her opponents much more than any yell could, but her current companion was anything but impressed.

"Condense your energy, Soifon. Don't release it like you're shooting and don't let it dissipate like you're dispelling bankai," Suzumebachi coached her wielder.

Soifon's brows pinched in concentration and sweat ran down the side of her face as she struggled to control the reiatsu that was raring to break free.

_Is it just my imagination or is the rocket launcher's length somehow oscillating?_

"No, Soifon," the spirit corrected harshly. "Calmly! Do it calmly. Reign it in—your energy, your emotions, your thoughts—everything! Prepare yourself as if you're carrying out a true assassination."

With a small nod, Soifon closed her eyes and began the process of relegating everything to the back of her mind—her annoyance at the bug, her excitement and anxiety for her new technique, her hate for Aizen and her fear of not being able to beat him in this timeline, and many other things that were jumbled up inside her. Simultaneously, she imagined the yellow aura radiating around her getting smaller and smaller, but also brighter and brighter. Soifon didn't know how long it took, but with a clearer mind and a brighter soul, Soifon finally felt herself grow significantly lighter, the weight of her bankai's launcher suddenly much easier to lift. In a moment of enlightenment, she found herself thinking,_ So__ this what it feels like to be completely at peace._

A boisterous laugh interrupted her more profound thoughts and her eyes fluttered open in mild irritation. "Suzumebachi-" she warned.

"Now, now, stay calm," the hornet tried to placate her as her giggling died down. "You've only just succeeded. If you get angry now, we'll have to do this _all _over again, and the day's almost done."

"What?" Soifon frowned in confusion, her annoyance temporarily forgotten.

"You've been in a bankai trance for about five hours." The fairy-like spirit pointed at the woman's right arm which was still in front of her, apparently still raised from when she gave Suzumebachi her warning. "That's why you suddenly felt light," the hornet explained with a contorted face that suggested she was holding back from laughing again. "I'm sure letting go of your fears and emotions had something to do with it, too…" At this, Suzumebachi actually snorted as her determination not to laugh began to fail. "But mostly it's because your launcher is now only one-sixth of its original size…"

Soifon was too fascinated by the previously unnoticed change in her bankai that she ignored the spirit's cheerful mockery of her thoughts and her subsequent explanation of how her five-hour meditation in bankai helped her bring out Jakuho Raikoben's true form.

She turned her arm around curiously to inspect her bankai's transformation. The sleek tube had been reduced to arm's length, attached to her forearm with a metal brace but detached from her upper arm, allowing her the luxury of bending her elbow—something she couldn't do with the launcher's old form. Not that she could bend her elbow if the old launcher had been attached so precariously since it was so bulky and heavy, but this launcher was small and light enough that with enough training, she could regain the advantage of being able to move quickly during a battle. The spikes that made the old launcher so ominous were reduced to studs in this form, also allowing her a greater range of motion without impaling herself.

"What does it do? I thought you said it made explosions," the assassin asked, a tinge of worry in her voice. The current form of Jakuho Raikoben looked like a cross between her shikai stinger and the old form of her bankai. Frankly, it scared her to think about a close-range weapon with the explosive power of her bankai.

_I thought Suzumebachi said the new bankai would be safer for me..._

"It _is_ safer for you. Much safer in fact, and you wouldn't have to doubt what I said if you'd actually listen to my answer instead of making up your own theories," the hornet huffed as she flipped her long brown pigtails.

"Stop reading my thoughts," Soifon growled, but the spirit only rolled her tiny eyes. "Calm down, Soifon, calm down. Wouldn't want that thing to suddenly turn into a giant rocket launcher again, now would we?" The reminder kept the ex-captain's urge to crush the little bug at bay. "Now to answer your question of what it can do, point your arm towards that rock," Suzumebachi instructed and Soifon followed her order reluctantly. "Alright, now try to visualize where exactly you are pointing," she continued and once again, Soifon complied. "Good. What do you see?"

"It's a red dot."

"Are you sure? Why don't you walk closer?"

Soifon sauntered hesitantly towards the rock, arm still held in front of her. At first, she couldn't see the point in the exercise; even after moving a few meters towards the rock, all she could see was a red dot. A few meters more, however, and she started making out tiny lines swirled within the dot_._

_Is that a design?_

When she got within three feet of the rock, the tip of her new arm weapon just under one foot from the solid surface, her jaw dropped.

Suzumebachi flew over with a knowing look. "What is it that you actually do when you make the first step in Nigeki Kessatsu?"

Soifon answered without taking her wide eyes off of the red mark, "I stab the opponent with my stinger."

"Nooo," Suzumebachi dragged out annoyingly. "You stab the opponent just because you're that ruthless. You can make that mark with just a pinprick sensation."

"Yes," Soifon answered distractedly, still transfixed by the mark.

"Well, I'll need a little more than a 'yes' out of you. So think again, what is it that you do when you make that first step? The answer is right in front of you."

Soifon inched closer to the stone to make sure she was seeing the design correctly despite the distortions due to the uneven surface. The sight of a homounka, so unobtrusively tiny and projected with fine lines of light, left Soifon breathless. "I… I make a target for the second, killing strike."

"Exactly. You never did get to see how Jakuho Raikoben's ammunition is shaped, did you?" the bee-like creature smirked. "I'm pretty excited to see what Nigeki Kessatsu looks like at long range. How about you?" the bee-like creature asked cleverly. Soifon turned towards her and in a rare moment, she answered her sword spirit's question with a genuinely eager grin.

"Before we try that, you must know a few things about this new bankai. The requisites for its use are a clear line of sight and a target that remains stationary long enough to project the homounka and shoot," Suzumebachi began to lecture seriously. "It can be dodged and it can be blocked. You also need a quick and accurate aim, which you haven't really trained in because your bankai used to function more like a demolition ball than a sniper gun. But since your homounka moves with you, you only need to be accurate enough to hit the enemy, and not a specific point on the enemy, like with your stinger."

"So really, it's like death in one step," the young woman noted in satisfaction. "A little like a cero."

"Oh, please. A cero could kill you, but if you're lucky, it might just take out an arm or a leg or a chunk of your guts," the deceptively innocent-looking spirit remarked. "With the true form of Jakuho Raikoben, once you are hit, you die. No ifs, buts… limbs, or other body parts, for that matter." As awed as she was, Soifon couldn't help but blanch at the casual reference to dismembered or disintegrated body parts.

"Blocking it with an inanimate object negates the Nigeki Kessatsu ability, but still results in a smaller version of your old Jakuho Raikoben explosion, so the shot could still work. This is the same way that your stinger can sting a hole into an inanimate object, say a wall, but even if you sting it twice, the wall can't die…" the hornet rambled on, but Soifon was no longer paying attention, already considering a much more important issue. "Suzumebachi," she said slowly. "At my last battle… Aizen blocked Nigeki Kessatsu just by having denser reiatsu."

Suzumebachi bit her lip and looked down—whether in embarrassment or apology, it wasn't clear. "I'm afraid that could still happen, even with your bankai's Nigeki Kessatsu. After all, shinigami battles often turn out to be battles of reiatsu."

"Mmm," Soifon softly hummed her understanding, feeling thoroughly depressed and causing her bankai grow slightly before disappearing completely. She slumped her shoulders and lowered her head in defeat.

"But that just means we need to train more and plan better, doesn't it?" Suzumebachi perched lightly on the woman's shoulder and wrapped an arm behind Soifon's head.

"Yeah," the woman gave the spirit a small smile, appreciating the gesture, before hiding her weakness behind her usual scowl.

"Now get off my shoulder."

* * *

"Soifon!" Yoruichi called as she flopped carelessly into her throne at the Onmitsukidou's headquarters.

After a quick delay, a black-clad figure took a knee in front of the Gundanchou. "Yoruichi-sama," the too-big figure spoke in a voice that was also too low.

"Well, obviously, you're not Soifon," Yoruichi said tilting her head in bemusement. "So where is she?"

"We don't know, Gundanchou. Today's her day off so… " her bodyguard trailed off.

"Pfft, that girl has never taken her day off voluntarily for as long as I can remember," Yoruichi said disbelievingly.

"Sorry, but she's really not here, Yoruichi-sama. We thought it odd that she didn't come, but it _is_ supposed to be her day off, so we didn't bother to find her," the man bowed his head apologetically.

"Hmm," Yoruichi frowned, obviously unhappy. "Is that so?"

"Shall we locate her for you now, Yoruichi-sama?" the man offered helpfully.

The commander tapped her chin, giving the suggestion some thought. "No, that's fine. There's just something we needed to discuss. It can wait."

Noting that the woman's mood had soured despite her dismissive words, the man nodded cautiously, "If that is all, Yoruichi-sama…"

"Yes, you are dismissed," she waved him off distractedly.

As the man slinked off into the shadows, Yoruichi steepled her fingers by her lips with her elbows resting on her knees, and contemplated the recent events.

Soifon had always been comfortably constant, predictable if a little boring; but for two days in a row, she had whipped out some pretty interesting surprises. Last night, she unexpectedly released her zanpakutou and noticeably improved her shunpo, both very good things indeed. But at the same time, the girl had kept her speed secret until that game of tag, and quite obviously intended to keep her shikai secret as well. Yoruichi had been prepared to ignore the secrecy but today, perhaps even more shockingly, Soifon had actually forgone the opportunity to serve the Shihouin princess. There was just something distinctly wrong with that; and at that thought, Yoruichi couldn't help but heave a tired and saddened sigh. "Why couldn't things have stayed the same?"

* * *

Author's notes:

Things are about to get more interesting. I'm pretty excited to work on the next chapters, so I hope you guys are excited to read them too. This chapter is a little different from how I usually write, I think, so I also hope I haven't confused anyone by using a style I'm not used to. Because of that, I'd really love to see what you think of the chapter (although it's always a pleasure to receive reviews). Please click on the review button.

I felt like I needed to add this note after the first few reviews of the chapter: Shihouin Yoruichi is the Soushireikan of the Onmitsukidou. It's one of her many titles that Byakuya mentions when she appears on the bridge to save Ichigo from Senbonzakura.

Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, Soifon's bankai would be even more badass.


	6. Women of Stealth

Author's notes:

Thanks to my beta, PolarisAmane, for making sure that I'm on the right track.

Shorter chapter this time, but you'll probably get a quick update after this since the next chapter is pretty much just being polished.

Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, Soifon would recruit Tatsuki to the Onmitsukidou.

* * *

Chapter 6: Women of Stealth

Yoruichi was not the type to rise when the sun did. It was one of her quirks that everyone had learned to live with. Her men knew to find her in her quarters if the dawn somehow brought urgent news. The other captains knew not to seek her audience until at least late morning. Even the Shihouin elders knew it was best to schedule clan meetings later in the day if they wanted the clan head to be in attendance.

The only reason she ever woke up earlier than mid-morning was if there was a Captain's Meeting, or if there was important mission that required it. This time, there was indeed a mission and it required her to be up even before the crack of dawn. But because the mission was unofficial and not at all sanctioned by Central 46 or the Soutaichou, this meant that no one expected it when she slipped soundlessly out of her room and into the darkness, already wearing a black full bodysuit, a mask and gloves that hid her uncommonly dark skin, and a bandana that covered her distinctive purple hair. From a distance, she looked like she was just another one of her soldiers at the Onmitsukidou, though one with a decidedly alluring feminine form. It was a convenient disguise if she ever needed it, but the outfit's main purpose was for her not to be seen in the first place. Its main purpose was stealth.

The Shihouin threw a lever that raised a small panel in the wall, opening the short and dark secret passageway to the greater darkness of the night beyond. Silently, she thanked Kisuke for installing the escape route in the Shihouin estate for use when they went off for one of their escapades in the past. She was already crouched in the shadows outside when the panel automatically closed itself.

She knew that the clan guards and the few personal guards that took their shift at night would be surrounding her wing of the Shihouin residential building as well as looking after the four estate gates. She scampered behind walls, and darted from tree to tree, heading off to the south, away from those possible witnesses and towards another moveable panel in the Shihouin estate's wall, this one sensibly secured by a code that was to be entered in a tiny camouflaged console.

After ten minutes of shifting from lightning-quick flash steps and skulking in the shadows, Yoruichi arrived unseen at another heavily guarded area: the Onmitsukidou headquarters. This time, she didn't have the benefit of secret gates and secret passages, but the men in patrol were not elite like her personal bodyguards and there was no reason for them to be on high alert. Using the skills she had been trained in since her childhood, she was able to sneak over to the wall of her office undetected, and with a final sweep of her surroundings to make sure that no one would see, she leapt up to her windowsill, balancing gracefully on the thin ledge before letting herself in.

She moved smoothly and confidently through the pitch black room, knowing the position of every table, chair and shelf that furnished the space. When she got to the far corner, she looked around suspiciously once again before opening a filing cabinet filled with information on the skills of existing shinigami, as well as those aspiring to be shinigami. She reached for the large folder close to the front that contained the names and skills of those who might have the potential to achieve bankai one day. She thought of taking the entire sheaf, but with a frown and a shake of the head, she decided to pull out a single sheet of paper—the list of people who had the potential to achieve bankai but needed to be monitored for signs of disloyalty to the Gotei 13.

She whispered an incantation and pressed her palm against the sheet as she curled around it, hiding the white flash of light that signaled the success of the kidou. Placing it in a different folder in plain sight on the bookshelf beside her desk, she walked back to the window and breathed a heavy and suffering sigh.

The Commander of the Onmitsukidou was close to making it out of the division grounds when she detected a whisper of movement from the direction of the barracks. She pressed herself harder against the pillar as she squinted to make out what made the noise. To her surprise, she spotted another figure lurking in the shadows, feminine like her but shorter—more petite. There were a number of women like that in her ranks, but this one moved with extraordinary grace and stealth. If Yoruichi hadn't been so cautious due to sneaking around herself, even she would have missed the movements.

'Soifon?' she guessed, wishing she was wrong but knowing she was probably right. Her gut had been telling her that something was off with the girl, after all.

The figure just then perfectly executed one of Yoruichi's signature techniques, allowing her to vault over the division's wall with nary a sound. 'Dammit!' the captain cursed internally. 'What are you up to?'

She debated whether she should go home to keep up the charade that she hadn't left at all, or follow her subordinate to get to the bottom of her recent odd behavior; but it only took a beat before she set off after the girl. Why not? Wasn't she the very reason she had snuck into her own office in the first place?

She performed the same technique that Soifon used to leave the division grounds, planting her feet solidly on the ground before springing up, flipping and spinning mid-air, her legs high above her head, before landing in a low crouch outside. At once, she was back in the shadows, darting after her apprentice who was exceeding all her expectations now, flash stepping at two-thirds of Yoruichi's full speed while keeping to the features of the terrain that would hide her. Yoruichi found herself dreading more and more what she would see at the end of this chase, but was startled when she realized where they were headed.

'How does she even know about this place?' she wracked her brain for the possibilities. Had she forgotten that she had showed this place before—maybe taken her here for training? Maybe she had mentioned the place at some point when her faculties were muddled enough? She couldn't figure it out, even as she watched Soifon enter the cave she and Kisuke used to train in as youths.

Moments later, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she would see before crept into the cave and positioned herself behind the huge boulders that separated the hot springs from the rest of the area. Looking around, she noticed a large scorched hole in the ceiling of the cave, and she tilted her head, trying to remember which of her or Kisuke's crazy techniques or inventions caused it.

Bringing her attention back to Soifon, she found the girl taking off her mask and bandana, laying the items on top of a rock. She walked to the middle of the cave, just below that scorch mark, not at all looking like she was expecting anyone else to arrive. This puzzled Yoruichi; somehow, she had thought that Soifon would be here for a rendezvous. But what happened next puzzled her—no, disturbed her—even more.

"Bankai!" Soifon yelled, after she drew her zanpakutou. A column of lightning shot from her body and into the ceiling, solving the mystery of where the scorch marks came from.

Yoruichi's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she wobbled slightly from the unexpected downpour of reiatsu.

'No…'


	7. True or False

Author's notes: As promised, a quick update to follow up the cruel cliffhanger, though I would think that you're used to those by now. XD Thanks again to my beta, PolarisAmane, without whom you would be suffering from more all caps stuff than there already is. Reviews are always nice. Wink, wink.

Btw, screw this website for stealing our asterisk section dividers! At some point, I shall have to go back and fix everything.

Disclaimer: I disclaim Bleach. Got it?

* * *

Chapter 7: True or False

"I trust you have a new candidate for me? Someone who isn't as pathetic as the one you sent us after last time?" Aizen addressed his guest with a dangerous edge in his voice that emphasized his dissatisfaction with the previous candidate.

The figure completely covered in the black of the Onmitsukidou uniform knelt humbly at Aizen's feet.

"Aizen-sama… "

"Well?"

"I apologize but the new list is missing."

"I see. And when did you realize this?"

"Just before coming here, I snuck into the office. I found the folder for potential bankai-capables, but not the list of those with questionable loyalty."

"Then she is on to you; and if she is, then there is no way you can remain useful for my goal. Gin-"

"NO!" the man threw himself on the ground. "Forgive me, Aizen-sama! I am certain I can still be of use! I am one of her trusted bodyguards and-"

"Not trusted enough that you have access to this missing list," the deceptively kind-faced man cut off neutrally.

"Wait!" the man stalled, once again kneeling and holding out both arms protectively in front of him. "There is one that I am sure is strong and skilled! Yoruichi-sama's student-"

"-is extremely loyal to her," Aizen finished impatiently. "You could not have picked a worse candidate. Gin," he beckoned again as he held his arm out and flicked his wrist. The white-haired boy stepped forward with an almost adorable child-like grin that turned into something much more sinister when matched with the blade he was now holding in front of him.

The hulking man looked around, wide eyed like an antelope that knew it was about to be devoured. He should have known that his plan to placate his lord with information about that brat wouldn't work. Aizen was absolutely right, she was little more than the Gundanchou's puppet and would never do anything unless Yoruichi-sama herself said so.

To anyone watching, it would have seemed odd that the man was trembling but otherwise still in the face of a boy that was surely going to kill him. But even if he knew he was an elite soldier, more than a match for a mere boy, it was difficult to put up a fight when he knew it was futile. A boy Gin may be, but only the powerful deserved to stand by Aizen's side; and any death the child could offer would be merciful compared to what he would suffer under Aizen's own hands.

Soon enough, in stark contrast to his earlier behavior, the man resignedly brought his hands down and bowed. Before the man's body was even completely bisected, it dissolved into spirit particles, leaving his executioner's blade swinging swiftly from the sudden lack of resistance.

* * *

Yoruichi's mind was reeling as she watched the golden tube materializing around Soifon's arm. It was tiny compared to those of the other captains, but she had no doubts that it could be just as dangerous. Indeed, with a mere pointing of her fingers, the girl seemed to be able to cause a tremendous amount of devastation. 'What awesome power! How fitting for an assassin!' the commander mentally praised. But despite how impressed she was, she couldn't find it in herself to be proud. If anything, she was cursing and wondering how things had degenerated so badly in two days that she was now watching her cute little student pulling off bankai. Of course, she knew she was deliberately ignoring the many things that had happened to warn her that something as unpleasant as this might happen, but she cursed and wondered anyway. It was easier to pretend that there was nothing she could have done to prevent this.

As quietly as she could, Yoruichi crept into a hidden crevice so she could think—interpret all of the events in light of this new discovery, then make a plan of action.

It had been a few months since the disappearances began—a shinigami here, and academy student there. The very first one had actually been the Third Seat of the Fifth Division. They were few and far between, so people simply assumed that they were all isolated incidents. But it had always bothered Yoruichi that people who were supposed to be under her protection as the head of a policing body were vanishing, and worse, that her men failed to solve every single one of those cases.

It was a month ago when she took over the investigations herself, taking files and pieces of evidence from each team in charge. It turned out that compiling everything was part of the key to understanding situation. The other part of the key was Yoruichi's access to information that was restricted because of the tremendous potential for misuse.

It turned out that each and every missing person was on the list of up and coming shinigami or students that might one day achieve bankai if they lived up to their full potential. More distressingly, all except for the Third Seat were on the shorter list of people who were in danger of being sent to the Maggot's Nest because of that combination of power and objectionable ideologies that made them a threat to Soul Society. If they went missing, they were either dead which implied that a vigilante was on the loose, or hiding—possibly together—meaning something terrible was afoot. Whichever turned out to be true, Yoruichi was sure of one thing: there was a spy in the Onmitsukidou.

It was like balancing on the edge of a knife, trying to root out the mole without alerting them that they were in danger of being caught. Yoruichi couldn't decide if it was a good or a bad thing that the old list had already been copied, relieving some of the urgency of the task of subtly protecting it. However, the updated list had just arrived, and as of two days ago, all she had determined was that the spy must have been ranked pretty high in her forces.

It would have been much easier to deal with the spy issue if she had brought the one Onmitsukidou member she trusted with her life in on the secret, but she thought that Soifon was too young and unprepared for the spy game that was bound to be much more dangerous than even regular Onmitsukidou troops were trained for. And so she resolved to keep Soifon out of the loop. That is, until she suddenly realized that the girl was a lot stronger than she seemed.

Yesterday, the Soushireikan had been fully prepared to meet with Soifon to discuss what she knew, but her plans were waylaid when she began paying attention to Soifon's progressively odd and questionable behavior. 'How could I have been so blind?' she began to ask herself when she considered the possibility that her protégé was a spy. But that was an easy question to answer; she was too fond of the girl who reminded her of herself, too easily taken in by her puppy-like expressions.

'Dammit, why did you have to be so adorable?!'

Since she had stupidly given Soifon complete access to her office and regularly forced her to spend a lot of her time doing the paperwork without supervision, Yoruichi had to find a way to protect the new information without alerting her to anything—hence her clandestine trip to her own office to kidou-secure and hide the sensitive information in plain sight. At this point, she was simply taking precautions for the worst case scenario, but she hoped to the gods that she was simply being paranoid.

This hope was shattered when she found the girl skulking in the shadows.

She had followed Soifon expecting to confirm her suspicions and to be lead to the spymaster. Instead, she was treated to the sight of the girl performing bankai. While she was now quite certain that the girl was a spy, there was no way that she could actually _be_ Soifon. This begged the question of _who_ was this person, and _where_ was the real Soifon. Her blood froze when she realized she had no idea when the real Soifon had been replaced and more importantly, what had happened to her.

Yoruichi began to breathe shallower and shallower, quicker and quicker. 'Calm down, calm down. You don't know what happened yet, and the key to finding out is right here with you.'

The problem was that the said 'key' was currently in bankai, a particularly destructive one at that; and a battle in that state was best avoided, especially in a cave that masked the flow of reiatsu, preventing her from alerting the other captains. She was working out all of her possible options, when the girl's bankai oddly expanded then fizzled out, and she appeared to have been drained from her efforts.

'So she hasn't mastered it yet. Good,' Yoruichi thought with grim determination. And a plan formed straight out of the Onmitsukidou manual: 'Strike from behind while the enemy is defenseless.'

* * *

Yoruichi shot down from behind the boulder with every intention of incapacitating the impostor, only to witness the girl twitch and perform a flash step so fast that only she could surpass it. Yoruichi's foot drove deep into the ground where the girl used to be, sending up a cloud of dust and clearing a little crater. She stood in shock for just a second, then twisted quickly to scan the cave for her disturbingly skilled adversary.

Yoruichi frowned in confusion when she immediately spotted 'Soifon' standing in a loose defensive pose about fifty meters away. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. She had underestimated the impostor, and now she had lost the element of surprise. The odd thing was that 'Soifon' hadn't hidden herself—hadn't run away at the first indication of being discovered by a captain. Nor had she taken advantage of Yoruichi's mistake and attacked while she dealt with her shock. Was it a sign of innocence, idiocy, or confidence in her ability to overpower a captain?

"Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon called out pleadingly. That brutal attack was way too harsh and dangerous for training, and the speed Yoruichi used was of a level she reserved for when she really meant business. Obviously, her commander had witnessed her second release and now, Soifon was understandably being suspected of something.

_I knew I shouldn't have risked sneaking out to train before my shift! Now, how am I going get out of this without getting anyone hurt and without getting locked up?_

"WHO ARE YOU?" Yoruichi bellowed.

"It's me, Soifon!"

"Tell me the truth, spy! And what have you done to the _real_ Soifon?" she demanded, lowering herself to the opening form of her combat style.

Soifon hadn't run away because that was tantamount to admitting her guilt and that effectively tied her hands from altering the course of history. She had also foolishly forgone restraining Yoruichi for fear of hurting her. Now, she was in big trouble. Soifon's skills were captain level, but fighting Yoruichi in her prime when she seriously believed you were a threat was a very bad idea.

"Spy? What do you—" she shook her head, not understanding that accusation, before focused on what she did know. "It's the _truth_! I _am_ Soifon! I'm from the future, but I. Am. Soifon."

She knew what she sounded like. A liar. A loon. That's what she would have thought if she had been in Yoruichi's position. She would have tried to make up something more believable, but it was nearly impossible to lie to the Commander of the Onmitsukidou, especially when she had been expecting the lie. Her only option was to convince Yoruichi she was telling the truth before she got even more irritated by her preposterous claim.

"I can prove it! If you just-"

"How?" Yoruichi questioned warily.

"Look, I'll put down my zanpakutou and then I'll-"

"Do it!"

Soifon nodded obediently and drew Suzumebachi, laying the blade down gently on the dirt floor of the cavern. As she was getting up, she began to explain, "You see, I'm from a hundred years into the future and-"

With her head still bowed and her guard down, Soifon never saw nor expected the neck chop she received in the milliseconds it took for the Goddess of Flash to get behind her.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa!" Yoruichi chanted, binding the unconscious girl in unbreakable ropes of reiatsu and slinging her like a sack of potatoes on her left shoulder.

"Soifon from the future," the woman scoffed. "The first thing we teach in Onmitukidou is to trust no one." She flash stepped towards the center of the Seireitei when she suddenly alighted on the roof of a building and dropped to hide herself in the shadows of the Fifth Division.

* * *

As he and Gin walked home from the rendezvous, Aizen caught sight of Yoruichi landing on his division's roof hauling the tiny kidou-bound figure of—based on built, hair and uniform—what was likely to be the person his spy had suggested. Smoothly slipping behind a wall and pulling his companion along with him, Aizen's eyebrow perked almost imperceptibly. "Now, isn't that Interesting?"


	8. Ask and You Shall Receive

Author's notes: First of all, I want to thank everyone who has written reviews and encouraged me to continue during the long hiatus. The reviews were constant reminders that there were readers waiting for updates and that was finally what pushed me to wrap up this chapter. The next chapter will still take a while to get out, but hopefully not as long as this one.

I'm sure you can tell I'm rusty and that I've been sitting on parts of this chapter for a while, but I hope it's not too disappointing. Thanks to Polaris and Soldier for beta-ing this chapter. Check out their fics if you haven't yet.

* * *

Chapter 8: Ask and You Shall Receive

For a few minutes, Yoruichi had been flash stepping in relative conspicuousness, although with her speed, she was certain no one could make out that she was carrying another shinigami. She had every intention of taking the girl to the Soutaichou so they could decide what to do with her. She had even made a mental note to make sure that the impostor paid dearly for taking Soifon from her.

That's when it hit her. What if she really was Soifon from the future? Or more likely, what if the girl was Soifon of the present and she somehow just got stronger? What if she wasn't the spy?

Yoruichi didn't really have concrete proof that Soifon, if this was her, was the spy. As far as she could tell, she had snuck out to train, and maybe that's how she had gotten stronger. She knew that Kisuke achieved bankai in three days so accelerated training was possible, even remotely so. It baffled her why Soifon would make up a story about coming from the future when the truth might have been that much simpler, but maybe she had gained her strength doing something Yoruichi would not approve of. In any case, just the thought that the girl might be her actual bodyguard, and innocent at that, made Yoruichi stop and take cover in the shadow of the nearest building.

If she brought the girl to the Soutaichou, Central 46 would know about her, and all the other captains would be involved. In the end, she would lose her hold on the matter. Normally, she wouldn't care.

'But if this is Soifon…'

Making her decision, the Gundanchou started to double back, sacrificing speed for stealth, then she turned to retrace her steps from early that morning towards the Shihouin estate. A little longer than it had taken her to get to the Fifth Division from the cave, she found herself in the vicinity of her home. Yoruichi shifted the load on her shoulder, deftly pinching critical pressure points and reapplying the restraining kidou. Once she was certain that that the girl was still unconscious, she veered left, and followed what might have been a path ages ago. If it was, it had not been used in recent times, overgrown with vegetation and showing no signs of wear, but the plants were slightly younger in that narrow strip that ran shallowly slanting away from the main estate. Only one who was knowledgeable in natural sciences and knew to look would be able to tell, though Yoruichi didn't so much as pause as she followed it to a mossy seven-foot boulder, clean on one side from where it appeared to have been broken after the moss had built up; the remnants of the other half had been thrown in a circle around the boulder's new face.

Yoruichi said the kidou chant to reveal the hidden entrance through the boulder's clean face in hushed tones. The rock faded into a gray fog which lifted to reveal steps that led to Yoruichi's ultimate destination: the old Shihouin dungeons—dusty from disuse, remnants of a time when the Onmitsukidou was little more than the Shihouins' personal army of guards and mercenaries. Shoving off the dirty sheet that covered a restraining chair, the current head of the clan and the institutionalized Onmitsukidou thought it appropriate that she had brought 'Soifon' to the place where the Fons began their rise to prominence.

When the girl was finally restrained on the chair, Yoruichi knew she could start the interrogation; she simply had to wake the girl up. And she would have, except that she began eying the various sharp and shiny implements on the tray beside her, as well as in her hand, and visualizing all the gruesome things they were used for. She wasn't new to torture and interrogation, but the blade felt much too heavy in her hand and much too sinister to touch even the likeness of Soifon's skin. It took a few more moments before Yoruichi reluctantly conceded that she was going to need help, hesistant as she was to bring anyone else into the situation. It was time to pay a visit to her good friend, Kisuke.

* * *

"Yoruichi-samaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The blood-curdling scream pierced the silence in which Kisuke stood, idly fingering the implement he just used on Soifon as he placed it on the tray along with the pliers to pull out nails, the blades and shears to chop off tiny appendages, and the Pear of Anguish, meant to enter, expand and tear bodily orifices, whatever they may be.

The scream was the most pained sound Yoruichi had ever heard from one of her toughest bodyguards. She so wanted to believe that that meant this was an impostor, rather than Soifon experiencing something that made her react the way she never did in the face of the most horrific situations they went through together. But not knowing for certain that that was the case, hearing utter anguish in the exact timbre of Soifon's voice had made her get up from where she had been observing quietly. It was all she could do not to run to the girl's side and set her free.

She looked back and forth between the girl and the man who seemed unperturbed save for the grim expression that had been on his face since he injected the girl. "Kisuke! What the hell is going on?"

This was certainly not what she had in mind when she came to seek Kisuke's help, so she combed her memories of their conversation for any indication that the drug was going to inflict so much pain.

* * *

_Skirting past the wide double doors that opened into a network of labs, Yoruichi found the more traditionally designed barracks and hopped onto the window sill that she knew led to Kisuke's study._

"_KISUKE!" she boomed, causing the slumbering man to shoot up comically from his desk, clutching his currently non-functional head._

"_Ooh, wh-wha-what? Yoruichi-san, is that you?" he squinted his tired eyes painfully._

"_Kisuke, get me some of that new drug you've been working on," she ordered, ignoring his struggle to wake up completely._

"_I don't-" _

"_And don't you dare lie to me and tell me it doesn't exist!"_

"_What a disagreeable woman." he concluded. "What do you need it for? Second division already has a whole slew of torture devices,"_

"_If she is who she says she is, then I…," Yoruichi started resolutely but fumbled for her reason as she kept her hand up, pointing to the bound body she had set on the floor by the window before she woke Kisuke up. She had considered and decided against leaving the girl unguarded and had ended up lugging her prisoner all the way to the Twelfth Division._

"_SOIFON-SAN?" Kisuke shouted before Yoruichi clamped a hand over his mouth. "Stop making a fuss, Kisuke. This girl knows bankai. I don't know if she is 'Soifon-san', but that's why I need that drug." Slowly, she released the man from the headlock._

"_I see. And you came to me so you can figure out what to do if she actually was Soifon, without the interference of those old fogies at Central 46, is that it?" Kisuke said in a low voice, suddenly serious._

_Yoruichi thought about it; he wasn't completely correct about the situation, but he was close enough. He usually was. "And you call __**me**__ the disagreeable one."_

* * *

Looking back, Yoruichi realized that she wanted so much to find a less damaging method of interrogating the girl that she simply decided this was it without actually making sure it was. She was irritated that Kisuke hadn't explained the dangers, given how she made it clear she was concerned that the girl might really be Soifon, but then she couldn't really blame him considering how she implied knowing everything about the drug.

She turned to look at Kisuke squarely, though in her mind's eye, she could still see Soifon to her side, tears flowing uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes despite being squeezed shut. The girl was still unconscious, but she jerked so violently in her chair that the manacles dug into her, blood slowly making its way down her wrists. The vision fed her voice with an unwanted desperation. "I thought this drug was a truth serum for interrogation! Why is she-"

"A truth serum?" Kisuke raised an eyebrow. "I don't know where you got your intelligence, Yoruichi-san, but this drug is no truth serum, even though you are right about its utility for interrogations." He shook his head, just now realizing how and why Yoruichi had been so willing to subject someone who could be her protégé with the drug.

"What? Then what does it do?" Yoruichi asked frantically, shooting a concerned look at her prisoner.

"It…" Kisuke stalled, not wanting to distress Yoruichi any further but also not having a choice. "It messes with the chemicals in people's brains and makes them re-live the darkest moments of their lives." He paused, trying to gauge Yoruichi's reaction, even as Soifon began sobbing loudly. "The idea is to put the prisoner in such a state of despair and weakness that they become extremely vulnerable to the following interrogation, where further physical torture may or may not be necessary. The information we gather from their ramblings while the drug is in full force is merely a bonus; either they coincidentally have to do with the information we need, or they can be used as leverage during the interrogation proper."

"Soifon's… darkest moments? But… she screamed my name." Yoruichi furrowed her brows. "I assumed it was because she was asking me to stop this..."

"Yes, well, that scream does tell us that she's someone who refers to you as Yoruichi-sama," Kisuke offered. " How many people-"

"Wake her up," his former commander interrupted, worry and the vestiges of her annoyance, both for her behavior and for his, evident in her voice. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish."

* * *

Soifon twitched uncomfortably as cold water splashed onto her face. Groaning, she opened her eyes to see Kisuke holding a bowl of ice water, wearing a genial smile she just wanted to rip off and stomp on.

"Sorry, Yoruichi-san asked me to wake you up for the interrogation, and I didn't think you would appreciate any physical contact if you really were Soifon-san."

_Interrogation?_

"Interrogation?"

Belatedly, Soifon realized that she had once again woken up sitting in a chair, this time with all of her limbs tied down by reiatsu-resistant manacles. She might have wondered why she always seemed to wake up sitting down in this timeline, if not for her swimming head and the pervading sense of grief and hopelessness.

Having regained her composure, Yoruichi entered the room shortly, wearing her most intimidating expression. "What is your real name, impostor?"

Soifon gave her an almost hurt look before nodding in resignation. She had no desire to hold back information, after all. She just wanted to tell her mentor what was going on, and the feeling that resistance would be futile had almost nothing to do with it. "You want my real name, but you probably won't recognize it."

"Say it anyway," Yoruichi ordered, her voice so cold you would never have known she was frantic just moments ago.

"I am Shaolin Fon of the Fon clan which serves the princess of the Tenshi Heisouban, the Shihouin Clan…" Soifon obliged. "You know me as Soifon," she decided to add for clarity. Kisuke glanced questioningly at Yoruichi, who simply went on with her interrogation, recognizing the clan, but not the name Soifon had abandoned to be in her service, just as Soifon expected.

"Of course we know you as Soifon. You are impersonating her, are you not? Your clanswoman-" Yoruichi asked, an impatient edge creeping into her cold voice.

"No! I-"

"How did you get so strong? How did you achieve bankai?" Yoruichi interrupted, her voice low.

"I… I'm strong because…" Soifon started, but as she thought of the answer, she realized it was information that she did not want to impart.

"I'm strong because…" The answer would damn her, and yet she couldn't find the strength to lie or even twist the facts into harmlessness.

"I…"

_I don't want to tell you. I won't! But I-_

"Answer the question!" Yoruichi ordered again, threateningly stepping towards the tray whose contents gleamed menacingly. She didn't want to hurt the girl, and yet in the end, she would do what she had to do for the greater good. She would get her answers and she would eliminate any traitors.

The threat was unnoticed, and really, unnecessary. Kisuke was nothing if not a genius and his drug was breaking down even the strongest of Soifon's mental barriers.

_Lie. Lie. I have to lie! But how can I? What would I say? I was stupid enough to get captured and I'm too stupid to come up with anything that would fool them. I'm weak! I'm too weak to resist interrogation. So weak that she didn't think I could handle the truth all those years ago. So weak that she left me behind. It's because I'm useless. It's useless. It's useless to resist…_

The two captains, one puzzled and the other impassive, watched Soifon as her unfocused eyes began to cloud with tears and her face twisted in despair. Yoruichi was about to speak again—to threaten, to interrogate, or to inquire if Soifon was okay, no one would ever know, for the drug had won.

"I'm sorry Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon began her confession with a loud, desperate, and tearful apology. "I trained for decades with the goal of surpassing you, that I may capture you with my own two hands. That… that is why I achieved bankai."

Yoruichi's eyes darkened and her heart clenched when she finally accepted that before her was an enemy. "You will tell us what your mission is and who you work for. Answer quickly, completely and truthfully, or your life will be forfeit. Know that this is not an idle threat."

It was then that Soifon realized that the two captains had injected her with the drug which, in the future, she had designated for use only with the most difficult criminals. Not only did it force one to tell the truth, but it slowly disintegrated mental inhibitions, preventing the prisoner from holding back information. It seemed perfect, but the reason it wasn't commonly used was because it was essentially a neuroproteolytic poison, and the longer the interrogation, the more damaging the effects on the brain. There was only a small window in which the serum could be used without truly harming the prisoner. Cooperative prisoners were given the antidote before being sent for detention. But if the prisoner was deemed truly dangerous and powerful enough to hold back against the potent substance within that small window, then they were simply interrogated until they were reduced to mindless husks and died.

"You… you used serum SL-v3 on me. That's… I can't… " Soifon continued to whine unintelligibly about the hopelessness of her situation while Kisuke gaped at the girl, surprised that she knew of the exact code of substance they had used even if she was a version too advanced. Again, SL-v2 had done its job; she was incriminating herself, and equally importantly, she had begun volunteering the extent of her knowledge to them.

"You will tell us the information I asked for NOW!" Yoruichi roared, thoroughly disturbed by even that small piece of knowledge, coupled with the claim of training to apprehend her.

Unfortunately, the difference between the first and succeeding versions of the drug was strength and speed of efficacy. Soifon was now more absorbed in her self-pity and self-recrimination than the interrogation. "S-Soifon, Captain of the Second Division, Commander of Onmitukidou, Leader of the Keigun First Brigade," she enumerated her positions with disgust. "What does that even matter if I'm stupid, weak and useless? I don't deserve those titles. I don't. Yoruichi-sama should never have left us, and I should have just stayed as nothing but a bodyguard."

Yoruichi schooled her expression, but Kisuke caught the look of disbelief and confusion that crossed her face. And still, Soifon rambled on, less and less aware of her surroundings, "The gods should have picked someone else to go back in time. Maybe Yoruichi-sama herself. She would know what to do. Not like me. So useless and weak. Not even any good as a bodyguard. How am I supposed to stop Aizen from destroying the world? And Urahara? That moron, he…"

Unwilling to hear more, Kisuke hurriedly pulled Yoruichi aside and spoke to her in hushed tones, "Yoruichi-san, it looks like this may well be Soifon-san, even if there's a lot that we still don't know and understand about her. But the drug… it's acting too quickly. If we keep going like this, she'll…"

"I know," Yoruichi responded, betraying nothing of the fear and confusion Soifon's words and condition triggered within her. "Give her the antidote and secure her while think of what to do next."


	9. Memories of an Interrogation

Author's note:

I just wanted to thank everyone who has read this fic, everyone who has left a review, and everyone who has kept waiting, hoping that there would be an update despite the terribly long hiatus. I'm not really in a position to update regularly, but I had this little tidbit lying around so I just thought I'd post it as a little reward or a little teaser, however you want to look at it. The enthusiastic reviews really pushed me to update; they reminded me that there are people out there who care what happens to the fic. Just so you know, I do like this story and I haven't given up on it, but it will take a lot of time before I am able to devote time to it again.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, even if it is shorter than usual.

Chapter 9: Memories of an Interrogation

Soifon woke up with a start, body trembling and eyes wide but unfocused. She didn't know why, at the moment, but she had the nagging feeling that she should not have been asleep. At least she hadn't intended to fall asleep and couldn't remember going to sleep. She tried to recall what had happened before she had woken up from this unplanned nap, but the lights were a little too bright and her mind a little too addled. All she could call forth were images and snatches of conversation, but they weren't very useful…

She thought she remembered her commander wearing a black body suit instead of her captain's haori. Urahara was there too, wearing a lab coat as he stood beside her. She tried to recall what they were doing while she with them, but everything was wrapped in a haze and held a certain sense of abandonment and inadequacy.

_Abandonment_.

Now, thinking of that word seemed to call forth more memories that were so clear, she was sure they must have just happened.

There was Yoruichi-sama, furiously pacing the floor with a frown on her face.

_But why is she wearing her haori in this memory? Wasn't she just wearing her body suit?_

Urahara's lieutenant was in danger and the officers of the Gotei 13 were off to rescue her. Yoruichi-sama seemed frustrated, no doubt wishing she had been sent instead. But there was something else. She seemed… worried; Soifon could see traces of it on her face even as she assured her that things would turn out fine.

_I thought Urahara was there with us… He was standing right there while Yoruichi-sama was talking to me._

Sometime after that, Soifon remembered running fast and hard for a very long time. She had heard rumors about Yoruichi-sama, but they had to be wrong. They just had to be. She ran because she desperately needed to know. Nothing else mattered, not the burning in her lungs or the aching of her legs. It was an eternity before she rounded the corner; she blasted the doors open to find Yoruichi's throne empty.

_She wasn't there like she should have been…_

She remembered that all too clearly. Her legs gave in and she slid absently against the door jamb, into a heap on the ground. She had yelled out her commander's name for the rumors were correct. Shihoin Yoruichi had abandoned her position. Shihoin Yoruichi had abandoned her.

_And then there was an interrogation. _

Yes, she vaguely remembered being interrogated. Yoruichi-sama was wearing a black body suit instead of her captain's haori, and Urahara was wearing a lab coat as he stood beside her.

_No, wait, that can't be right._

That memory was probably from before they left her… But there really was an interrogation. She had screamed for Yoruichi-sama… no, that didn't seem quite right either. It was an order from Central 46; that she remembered quite well. It was an embarrassment and no one believed her. Then the Soutaichou was there. He had been so angry…

_Yes, that must be it_, she thought hazily as her eyes wandered around the room she had woken up in, taking in the ashy marks on the walls and ceiling, and the series of long gouges on the wall opposite her, as if giant talons had carved them out. She was probably being kept here while they figured out what to do with her after her interrogation.

At the back of her head something told her that all of this would pass and eventually, she would be trusted with the position that her master had left. She ignored that feeling in favor of the overwhelming sense of despair that clouded her senses and seemed to run in her veins.

Just then, she heard a muffled voice and felt the familiar tingling of reiatsu being released. She then heard a series of clicks followed by a hiss—a kidou spell had released the locks to her reiatsu-blocking cell, no doubt. Soifon was puzzled by the need for such high security measures against her. It wasn't like she was captain level or something.

Soifon was expecting the First's lieutenant to enter but gasped when the blond scientist, the bane of her existence, sauntered through the door. "Soi-chan! You're up!" Kisuke was yelling cheerfully when all of a sudden, a black blob slammed into him, knocking the air out of his lungs. The next instant found Kisuke at the opposite end of the room with eyes grim, having flash-stepped away from the presumed enemy out of instinct, but the black blob remained attached to his robes. He was about to remedy that through more drastic means when he realized that Soifon was clutching his robes desperately firing off questions in quick succession.

"Urahara! You're back? Everyone thought you were gone for good! Has everything been sorted out? I told everyone they were wrong. I told them!" When Kisuke remained quiet and his expression remained uncharacteristically grim, Soifon's hopeful smile melted.

"Then it's true…" Soifon mumbled to herself in horror as she released her hold on Kisuke and slowly backed up. "How did you get past the guards, all the shinigami that have been sent to capture you?"

But through all that, another seed of hope grew in her heart. "Did Yoruichi-sama come back for me?" Her voice was so small, disbelieving but painfully hopeful, that it almost broke Kisuke's heart.

"Soi-chan, I think you need to rest some more," Kisuke said softly, knocking the disoriented girl out as gently as possible, sticking a needle into her neck. Pausing and looking up thoughtfully, he took another vial from within his robes and injected the brown liquid into her as well. Nodding in satisfaction, he carried Soifon back to the simple bed he had set up for her.


End file.
